John McClane

plural John McClanes

1. A dogged and reluctant hero, known especially for sacrificing himself and for crawling through ventilation ducts.

   John Wick joins the annals of the greatest action heroes on screen, up there with the John McClanes, the Rambos, the Bullitts.

   2017 February 10, Dylan Moses Griffin, “Review – John Wick: Chapter 2”, in The Death of Film Criticism, archived from the original on 11 Aug 2026

   2 more examples

   Burglars, then, far from being interdimensional John McClanes of the built environment sliding through the many unseen topologies of Nakatomi space, are more like human mosquitoes: irritating, seemingly pointless, and unending in number.

   2016, Geoff Manaugh, A Burglar's Guide to the City, Farrar, Straus and Giroux

   I settled into my first faculty meeting of the year with my secret plan in place and devised plans to take over eventually. I would go alone. I was going to be the John McClane of that university.

   2024, Virgil Henry, Academic Inferno - My Academic Trip Through Adjunct Hell, 4 Horsemen Publications